October 19 - The Dunwich Horror

Back in, oh the 50's, maybe... there was an author named H. P. Lovecraft who wrote some tales about ancient demons being unleashed by a book called the Necronomicon. The ancient demons, apparently a race of otherworldy beings, lay in wait in the darkness between worlds for someone to read the passages of the Necronomicon and release them to return and walk the earth as they did before the coming of man. There have been numerous movies, books and tv shows referencing his works, and tonight's movie is based off of them directly.

There's a family named Whately living in some small town somewhere, who apparently still worship these ancient demons. This movie starts out with the birth of twins to this Whately family, one fairly normal, the other.... not so much. Years later, the normal Whately twin is attending a lecture by a professor, a professor who is studying the Necronomicon. The Whately fellow wants the Necronomicon to perform a ritual, and he also needs a young woman. A young woman much like the good professor's assistant, whom he beguiles with a mix of charm, drugs and perhaps a bit of magic as well.

It's not long before she is an unknowning prisoner at his house, a house with a certain locked room upstairs, a locked room containing something... evil. Meanwhile, the professor is searching for her, and learning all he can about the Whatelys, when he finds out that someone has stolen the Necronomicon! :-o

This movie has a nice mix of things that I like in movies. Ancient demons? Check. Monsters? Check. Magic? Check. Nudity? Sort of a check. Apparently Sandra Dee has a nude scene in this movie, but you can't really tell. There is some other random nudity, however, so yea, I guess that counts as a check. Still a decent movie, made back in the days when a little lightning flash and a puff of smoke were state of the art special effects, but that just means the acting had to be good to make up for it. Not like nowadays, where they grab some teen who got kicked off an episode of survivor and make her the star next to a bunch of computer generated stuff just because they can get her cheap. Still, this is a good one, especially around the end parts. :-)